Havens Succeeds at State

The Pleasant Plains Cardinals Varsity Golf Team finished a great regular season with a record of 22-7. The team, led by senior medalist Austin Havens (72) advanced out of the Greenview Regional with a score of 328. Austin is the second regional champion ever at PPHS. Their Sectional Golf Tournament was held in Monmouth, Illinois at Gibson Woods. The Cardinals finished with a team score of 350 and were once again led by senior Austin Havens with a score of 79. The team finished sixth overall and did not advance. On the other hand, Austin Havens placed sixth as an individual and had advanced to the 2011 IHSA state Golf Tournament. The Single A State Golf Tournament is hosted at Prairie Vista Golf Course in Bloomington, Illinois. The first day of the golf tournament was with no surprise a very windy and cold day. The conditions were very typical of a state golf tournament. Austin, this being his third appearance for state golf, was more than used to the horrid weather.
Havens started the day off on the back nine, which was harder in his opinion. He shot a 39 on the back. As he proceeded to the front nine, he knew he had a chance to get it back. Unfortunately, he started off the front with two straight double bogeys and finished the front with a score of 41, for a total of 80 on day one. After all of the scores has came in, Austin was still in the Top 25 and knew he had a chance to get back in contention.
On day two, Havens started on the back again. He finished the back with an even par 36, so he was very pleased considering the conditions were nearly the same, if not worse than the day before. Advancing to the front nine, Havens had great confidence. He fired another even par 36, to total out his round for a 72. This 72 put Austin in third place total for the tournament. His two day score was eight-over-par 152. Austin is the first PPHS Cardinal ever to place in the Top 10 in the IHSA Golf Tournament. This was a very big accomplishment for Austin as well as the program. Congratulations Cardinals on the great year!

Austin Havens
-The Cardinal